


The way to Love

by Enamis2001



Series: MacGyver [4]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, It's basically a Riley thoughts from the first time she saw Mac until the solar eclipse, One Shot, Romance, Season 5 Episode 3, eclipse - Freeform, from the photo, my interpretation for what could happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:20:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28092300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Enamis2001/pseuds/Enamis2001
Summary: If Riley had paid more attention to what her heart had been telling her for years, maybe she wouldn't(t be in this situation right now...
Relationships: Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Riley Davis/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: MacGyver [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050722
Comments: 6
Kudos: 67





	The way to Love

**Author's Note:**

> It's basically Riley understanding what her heart have been telling her for years. I start at the scene in the prison, and finished with the new pictures released yesterday.  
> I hope you will like it !  
> It's kinda short, but cute, I think.

The first time Riley had seen Mac was in the interrogation room in the Supermax. He was accompanied by his mother's ex, whom she had never forgiven for abandoning them when she was little.

Her first impression of him was : confident, knew what he wanted… and excruciatingly handsome.

Not very professional, we agree. The worst part was that Mac knew he was good looking, and most of all, knew how to use his charms to get everyone in his pocket… without even doing it on purpose, most of the time. The moment he used a paperclip - a paperclip ! - to open her handcuffs, without her realizing it, just by placing his hands over hers, was the moment when she knew they were going to become really good friends, maybe the best that be.

After that day, she unhesitatingly followed him through all of his stupid, crazy and dangerous plans without even stopping for a second to wonder if it was really worth it.

It should have been her first clue.

Years passed. Mac and Riley had grown closer to the common fact that they did not have a father as a child. Mac's was missing. Riley's was a first-rate con artist who beat his mother, until Jack scared him away. Having similar life experiences, and both die-hard geeks, they got along so well that sometimes they didn't even need words to understand each other.

Unlike the others, Riley was always fascinated by Mac's inventions, and his explanations. Sometimes she had to cut him short, because they didn't have time to spend in explaining, but she always made a point of asking him again how his invention of the day worked when she was home and safe.

Mac's eyes twinkled at such times, and Riley often found herself lost in them.

That should have been his second clue.

Then Jack left, and Riley found herself once again without a father figure, adding to it a sense of concern for the well-being of her almost-adoptive father. Mac was the only person who could understand her. Jack had also played the role of father, protector, for him after all.

Several times they had found themselves alone, together, telling stories about Jack. Often they would fall asleep against each other, trying to regain that cocoon of protection that their 'father' always enveloped them, while trying not to cry, to be strong for him.

The comforting warmth of Mac's arms, and her reluctance to shrink from it, should have been her third clue.

Then Phoenix closed because of Mason. Their path had separated. At first, Riley struggled. She was alone again, she had no one again. So when this lovely young man, a chartered accountant came over, and charmed her, she let it go. He was kind, funny, caring, and had a job that was hardly like the one she did before as an agent.

Perfect to forget and start a new life.

Until Mac walked into her computer repair store, and offered her a new job. Despite herself, she knew that she had missed the danger, the adrenaline, the 'save the world in the shadows' side. Mac didn't even have to finish his sentence as she quit and jumped across the counter to follow him. Without any hesitation. Looking back, she wondered if it was the mission or the company that had appealed to her the most.

This was her fifth clue.

Then Codex entered the game. Everything had a bigger dimension. The missions were getting more and more complicated, with larger scale.

But it was during a completely mundane rescue mission - which in the end was not that mundane, thank you the bomb from WWII - in Germany, and which had nothing to do with Codex that Riley understood.

She and Mac were in possession of a bomb that could detonate at any time. The handsome blond, who knew she was lying when she said she had no one, had discovered that she had been living with Aubrey for six months. Riley thought she felt her heart break when she saw Mac's sadness and disappointment in his eyes. So she said something harsh, and wrong, hoping to make the feeling of guilt go away. Except that she had been too harsh, and had hurt even more this young man who had always been there for her.

Riley refused to see jealousy in his words, in his actions. If Mac was jealous, then everything would become much more complicated for her. Until the building shook from the aftershocks of the earthquake, and she nearly died from being crushed by the bomb.

At that moment, only regret filled her mind. Regret that she hadn't tried anything sooner. The regret not having known how to interpret the signs that her heart was sending her, the regret at having to die without having a chance to know her soulmate, the one who will always be there for her.

Then Mac jumped up one floor to get her out of the way, and hugged her so tight. He must have really been afraid for her. Except that the bomb's delay had started, and everything was going from bad to worse.

If they couldn't find a way to get it out of the building quickly, they were all going to die. On top of that, Mac was scared, and for the first time in her life, she could see it in his face. He eventually told her his deepest secret : Every time he tried a stupid thing to save the day, he saw himself die. Again and again. And in those times, his only regret was being alone.

Riley's heart broke even more at this admission, and she swore to herself that as long as she was there, as long as she had any influence over her fate, then she would do anything to never leave Mac alone.

When the bomb was safely downstairs, after throwing it about fifteen yards, while cushioning its fall with sticks and ropes, Riley and Mac hugged each other, so hard that Riley gasped at that moment. When they separated, she told him that he was not alone, and he told her neither was she, while griping her hand.

It was then that Riley realized that her feelings for the handsome blond extended were more than friends or family.

She had ended up falling in love with him.

What a mess.

After that, the events followed one another at the speed of light. Aubrey left her when he learned what she really did for a living. She moved into Mac's place - not one of her brightest ideas if she wanted to stop being in love with him. Mac and Desi had gotten back on the right foot, and she felt she was too much in the house.

Then Codex had made its comeback, Mac's aunt, Gwen, was the leader, and wanted to do a 'reset' of human civilization. Not psycho at all. Mas's father died trying to protect him. Mac had decided to infiltrate Codex. Everyone thought he had kicked out rogue. Except her.

She had vowed to never let him alone, and more than anything, she trusted him blindly. She had ended up joining him.

They had managed to make Gwen switch side, when Phoenix decided to send a missile to their heads. Mac took her hand, and she knew she had made the right decision to join him. Because now Mac will never see himself alone again.

Gwen also died protecting her nephew. Mac was indeed an orphan now.

On top of that, the tensions in the group were so thick they could be cut with a knife. The trust, already very thin before the whole story with Codex, had totally disappeared, despite Matty's efforts to restore it.

And Codex had a new leader.

That's why she was in a park, with a picnic basket and a telescope, to see an eclipse. With Mac.

Well, the primary goal was not to see the eclipse itself. They had received intel that one of Leland's right-hand men was coming to see the show with his fiancée. Mac and Riley played the perfect couple on a romantic date.

And the worst ? It wasn't even hard to pretend.

“You know, on any other occasion than capturing a dangerous extremist, I would have loved to come and see the eclipse,” Mac told her as he sat down next to her.

He had just finished the final adjustments to the telescope.

“Um, an outing to see the sun being hidden by the moon… yeah, I would have liked it too,” she smiled at him.

“In fact, a total solar eclipse, like the one today, only happens when two conditions are met,” he tells her. “The first is that the moon must enter its new phase, that is, it must be full. The second, the sun, moon and earth must be in perfect alignment. These are rare phenomena, and very fast, never more than eight minutes.”

“Let me guess, you read that in a book ?”

Mac smirked at her, and moved closer to her until she was inches from her face.

“I had to be able to give my girlfriend some crisp details…”

Riley smirked, even though her heart sank in her chest. Rather, fake girlfriend. Last she heard, he and Desi still hadn't officially broken up. If we didn't need Riley to hack his phone, she sure wouldn't be here right now.

“Hey lovebirds, focus on your mission.”

Matty's voice brought Riley back to Earth, who pulled away from Mac to retrieve her computer. Mission first, then regret.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't hurt me ! I know, they didn't kiss, but I love when the tension is up like that !  
> What did you think about it ?


End file.
